Fairytail Chronicles: Home
by Monarchy of a Fangirl
Summary: The first in a series of four stories about Natsu and Lucy. After Lucy realizes her father will stop at nothing to get her back, she goes home for good. Six months later, Natsu's team goes on a mission to rescue a kidnapped bride, but what old memories and feelings will resurface? Set after episode 32. Future NaLu & Gruvia.
1. Chapter 1

_**I'm such a bad person, but deal with my bad updating. And I need to write this, because fuck all other fandoms, Fairytail is the one I'm currently obsessed with. Don't ask how long this will be, or how regular/irregular the updating will be, because I don't honestly know, what with boarding school and science taking over my life slowly...**_

**Set after Lucy goes home to disown herself from her father and after she gains Leo as a spirit. All italics are Lucy's thoughts.**

* * *

I'm coming home  
tell the World I'm coming home  
Let the rain wash away all the pain of yesterday  
I know my kingdom awaits and they've forgiven my mistakes  
I'm coming home, I'm coming home  
tell the World I'm coming

-I'm coming home

* * *

Chapter 1

_It was my fault. All my fault.  
However much the guild may say it wasn't, and how much they smile at me, I feel as though they hate me, as though the resentment is beginning to bloom inside of them._

_I don't want to live like this. In fear of my own friends, maybe it would just be best if I went home._

_Would my father still want me?_

_No, he never wants me, only the wealth that my marriage could bring to him; he doesn't care about what, or even who I want._

_Maybe I want someone who will only ever see me as a friend, because he is far too dense to realise that I am in love with him and have been ever since he saved me from falling to my death._

_No Lucy, do not think about that. You know your duty, to your family name, to your friends.  
This will help them all in the long run and I can't live in fear forever, whether it is of my father or for my friends._

_Going back to that place, will be best, for everyone. I will submit myself again, for my friends.  
They won't want to be my friends once I tell them of my decision to leave, will they?  
I won't tell them then. I will leave in the dead of night and not tell anyone of my plans._

"Lucy?" A loud voice pulled Lucy from her miserable thoughts. She jumped about a foot in the air; her blonde hair flying out of her bunches.

"What is it?" she asked tiredly, looking up to see her partner, Natsu. He was smiling like an idiot at her, a request flyer in one hand.

"I choose another job for us to go on! We leave tomorrow!" With that he strode out of the Guild Hall without saying another word to anyone.

Lucy left quickly after him, she had decided what she would do, the only thing she could do, she would go home to her father and her predetermined fiancé.

* * *

Lucy could barely see as she packed through her tears, she took only her favourite things, burning all of her letters to her mother and packing all of her food into a crate for Natsu when he arrived at her house.  
She looked one last time at her little apartment; she would miss this place almost as much as Magnolia. Lucy imagined that she could hear Natsu climbing through the window and Erza telling him off for having no manners. Even more tears fell from her eyes, and as she walked through the city one last time, they only thickened.

Dusk was falling as Lucy arrived at the train station, everywhere were reminders of the home she was leaving, and more importantly, Natsu. She could hear him complaining loudly about the train journey ahead, but when she looked around, she was alone.

Lucy boarded the last train running to her family's train station that day and she watched the scenery change from the mountains that surrounded Magnolia, to thick forest, to pretty lakes and then back into mountains. By the time it changed back, Lucy could barely see out of the window, but she knew that she was nearly 'home'.

* * *

She was the only person left on the train as it pulled into the station, the conductor smiled slightly at her as she disembarked and began the walk down through the village into her family's mansion.

Everywhere she looked, brought back sad memories. Her mother smiling at her as they held hands and walked through the station. Natsu laughing as they ran from destruction together. Running away from her father in the dead of night.

So lost in nostalgia, Lucy didn't even notice when she reached the wrought iron gates of the estate. She took a deep breath and walked through them. Knowing that after this point, her life would be on a different track to the one she wanted it to be on.

As before all of the servants hugged her and cried over her, but this time her father did not summon her straight away, so Lucy went to him after an hour.

She straightened her pink dress, took another deep breath and knocked on his study door.

"Enter." His voice came booming from behind the solid oak door, Lucy pushed it open and walked through.

"You have returned yet again." He stated and waited for Lucy to say something, but the words she wanted to say caught in her throat.

"Do you have any reason for coming back?" he asked her.

"Father, I am deeply sorry for what I said to you last time. It was wrong of me, what you wish for my life is best. I will consent to marrying whoever you wish me to." Lucy bowed her head and waited for a few seconds.

"Very well. I shall contact Duke Sawarr of the Junelle and tell him that the marriage is commencing. Expect the wedding to be in six months' time, until hen you shall continue your studies and not perform any magic, if I hear of you practising magic, I will not hesitate to cast you out. You will have no contact with the outside world or any of your 'friends' from that Guild, punishment will await you if you try to contact them. You may leave." He turned his back on Lucy, she felt the anger coarse through her veins, but she kept it hidden.

"Yes Father, thank you father." Lucy said and then she walked out of the study.

The moment she was out in the corridor, she ran to her room and told her maids to leave her be.

_Have I made a mistake coming back here? Is this really want I want? Does anyone even care if I'm gone? Will they look for me? Will they find me?_

These questions swirled around Lucy's head, until she cried herself to sleep that night.

* * *

"Erza, have you seen Lucy?" Natsu walked into the Guild the next morning. He had gone to Lucy's house to bring her on the quest, but she hadn't been there, only a crate of food was left and the apartment smelt strangely of burnt paper.

"No, I haven't. Was she not in her apartment?" Erza asked him in surprise.

"No. I bet it was Gray's fault!" Natsu shrieked, but Gray and Juvia walked into the Guild together, laughing and holding hands at that moment.

"Gray you bastard! What have you done with Lucy?" Natsu screamed.

"I've done nothing! How can you accuse me?" Gray yelled back, Juvia tried her best to restrain him, but soon the boys were beating each other up.

"Stop!" Bellowed Erza, "We need to find Lucy and you two aren't helping, let's organize search teams to find her."

The boys broke apart as Erza began to organize search teams, little did they know just how long they would be searching for Lucy.

_**Hope you all enjoyed the first chapter, review please, or not...ya know, whatever.**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**First of all, I'd like to say a massive thank you to all of the people who already favourited or reviewed or followed my story! Much love to you all!**_

* * *

Cause even when I dream of you

The sweetest dream would never do

I'd still miss you, baby

And I don't wanna miss a thing

Aerosmith-I don't want to miss a thing

* * *

Chapter 2

_Six months later_

Natsu was sitting in his house, his head resting in his arms. He hadn't been leaving his house much lately, especially not since Lucy disappeared, six months ago.  
Natsu had spent four and a half months searching for her, frantically. Everyone had given up after two months, but not Natsu. Many had called him insane, but he didn't care what others said, he wanted Lucy back.  
On one of his hunts, he'd come across a woman, whom he'd told everything to, she in return had told him that he was in love with the girl he'd been desperately searching for.  
At first Natsu had not believed her, but over time, he'd come to realise that he was in love with his blonde best friend, who was still missing, and it killed him, because he assumed that she'd been kidnapped, it killed him to think that he had not been able to protect her as he should of done.

"Natsu!" Natsu's head whipped around, he saw Happy flying towards him.

"What is it Happy?" Natsu asked, standing up, hope brimming in his grey eyes for the first time in weeks.

"Erza and Gray got back from their quest!" he said.

"Did they find her?" Natsu asked, he was already out of the door before Happy could answer and running down to the Guildhall.

As he ran, he thought of all the things he would say to Lucy when he saw her, the embrace he would give her, the promises he would make to her.

* * *

"Lucy!" Natsu shouted as he kicked open the Guild's doors.

Only to be met with silence. Gray and Erza were looking at him with pity in their eyes and Levy's eyes were brimming with tears. But Lucy was not there.

"We're back." Gray said after a few moments of awkward silence.

Natsu didn't say anything in return; he simply walked over to a bench, flopped down in it and stared at the table, deeply upset.  
He sensed someone approach him and he looked up to see Erza, Gray, Happy and Juvia standing over him.

"Natsu, I'm sorry." Happy hung his head dejectedly, "I only told you that, because I thought it would make you want to go on a mission with them, you haven't been on many recently.

Natsu quickly shook his head.

"Please Natsu." Happy whimpered.

"It might make you feel better." Erza said.

At this moment Mira-Jane walked in, holding a new piece of paper, she smiled as she saw the group assembled around the table and made her way towards them.

"Did I hear something about a mission? Well we just got this new request in, and I think it'd be perfect for you guys to go on. It has a big reward and there is bound to be a bit of fighting!" She handed the request to Erza, who skim read it and then she nodded in approval.

Gray snatched it from her and read it out loud,

"Please help! My fiancée was kidnapped the day of our wedding by a dark guild called Mercia, they are threatening to kill her if I don't pay up a massive ransom, please wizards, come and save her. Reward upon arrival and completion, any amount you would like."

"We'll take it." Juvia said, Gray wrapped his arm around her waist and smiled at her.

Natsu groaned half-heartedly and Erza fixed him with a steely glare.

"No complaining, we will meet tomorrow morning at the station, Mira Jane, please tell the master where we have gone. This includes you Natsu, do not be late."

Erza walked out of the guild and the door swung shut with a deafening finality.  
Natsu rested his head on the table, until he felt a slight pressure on his shoulder; he looked up to see Gray looking down at him, with a hint of worry in his face, Juvia also looked worried.

"Is Natsu-san ok?" she asked him.

"I'm fine Juvia." Natsu said, then he stood up suddenly, knocking Gray's hand off of his shoulder, he stormed out of the guildhall.

"Will he be ok, Gray-kun?" Juvia asked Gray, turning her blue eyes up to his face. Gray looked after Natsu, and then down at his girlfriend.

"I'm sure he'll be fine." Gray took Juvia's hand and led her out of the hall and down to his apartment where she had recently moved into.

* * *

The next morning, the weather seemed to reflect Natsu's mood, it was dark and overcast. As everyone made their way to Magnolia station, there was a definite chill in the air.

"Is everyone here?" Erza asked, she counted up five in their group, and then ushered them onto the train.

As soon as the train started moving, Natsu felt his insides squirm unpleasantly, before he became so incapacitated that he couldn't speak, he turned his face towards Erza,

"Could you please knock me out?" he asked quietly. Ezra looked at his suffering and nodded, he raised her fist and then Natsu was falling into oblivion.

* * *

_Natsu was in the guildhall, it was quiet, people were talking, but no fights were raging. It seemed as though they were waiting for something._

_The doors swung open and a bright light shone into the hall, in the doorway stood a girl, and as she moved further into the hall, Natsu recognised her._

_It was Lucy._

_She looked radiant as the sun, her blonde hair flowed down her back and she was wearing a long pale pink dress, which matched Natsu's hair perfectly._

"_Lucy!" Natsu yelled.  
He jumped up from his seat and ran towards her._

_Lucy's brown eyes widened slightly as she saw who was running towards her, and then she smiled. It was a truly breath taking smile._

"_Natsu." She said, and then he reached her and they hugged._

_When they broke apart, Natsu didn't know what to say. He was overcome with emotion; he felt tears well up in his eyes. Lucy was here, she was back, she was ok, and she was alive._

"_Natsu, I need to tell you something." Lucy said, she grabbed hold of his hands, "I love you, and I have done for a while now. Being parted from you made me realise this."_

_Natsu blanked. Lucy was here, and now she was telling him this? He felt so lucky and happy suddenly._

_He knew what to do. Natsu wrapped one arm around her small waist and lowered his head towards hers. He was going to do it; he was going to kiss her._

* * *

BANG

A loud sound woke Natsu from his dream, and for a moment he was confused as to where he was. The dream had seemed so real, Lucy had been so close to him.

"Natsu, get up. The train's stopped. We've arrived." Gray's voice rang out through his sleep confused state. Natsu sat up and rubbed his eyes.

It was true that the train had stopped, for his stomach no longer felt like it was about to explode. He stood and swayed slightly, but luckily Gray grabbed hold of one of his arms before he could topple over.

"Thanks." Natsu muttered, and together they disembarked the train.

* * *

The group set off through the town, the details had said that they person who posted the request lived in the mansion on the outskirts of the town, so they made their way towards the glistening white house.

When they arrived Erza knocked on the gate,

"Hello? We are wizards from Fairytail. We've come to rescue your fiancée."

The gate swung open and the group entered. An elderly butler was standing on the other side of the gate.

"How do you do?" he asked politely, "I am Thomas, this residences butler. I am to show you to your rooms and then the crime scene and then to the master of this estate."

He ushered them through the grounds and into a massive entrance hall, up a grand flight of stairs and into different rooms, everyone had their own room.

Each room had a large four poster bed, a chest of drawers, a mirror, a balcony and a private en-suite with a whirlpool.

* * *

After everyone had packed away all they'd brought with them, Thomas lead them out into the garden and into a pavilion.

"This was where the bride was abducted from." He said sadly.

Natsu sniffed the air; there was a familiar scent that he couldn't quiet recognise.

Set out in the pavilion were a few rows of delicate white chairs, a slightly raised dais with a white curtain behind it. There were petals on the floor that Natsu assumed had once been white.

Now they were a brown colour, and they reeked of blood.

"She was abducted as she was walking up the aisle, no one could have foreseen it, it was quite shocking." He shook his head sadly.

"When did this happen?" Erza asked quietly.

"Only five days ago." The butler replied, "The lord hasn't been able to face taking down the wedding decorations, so he left them up."

No one said anything for a while, Juvia looked quite upset and Gray was muttering soothing words into her ear and stroking her arm.

"I will take you to meet the Lord now. He will fill you in a little more on all that has happened."

Thomas walked them back through the grounds and into the house. He knocked on the door of a room and was told to enter; he opened the door for them all and then bowed himself out.

* * *

Natsu found himself in a beautiful room, with ornate mahogany furniture. It was not a big room, but there was a fireplace, two arm chairs, a desk and two bookshelves.

Behind the desk sat a man. He was young and reasonably good looking. He had shoulder length blonde hair and green eyes which looked so sad.

"Thank you for coming." He said and as he stood, Natsu realised just how tall the man was.

"My name is James and I am Duke Sawarr of the Junelle." He was silent for a few more moments.

"I assume you would like to know more about my fiancée who was taken?" he asked.

"Yes, sir." Erza said.

"She was beautiful. Ours was an arranged marriage, but I loved her dearly. She had blonde hair and chocolate brown eyes."

During the Duke's description, Natsu noticed two things. First that the Duke was speaking in past tense of his fiancée, and second that her description sounded an awful lot like the girl who'd been taken from him.

Gray opened his mouth to say something, but Natsu butted in.

"What's her name?" he asked, hoping that he was wrong.

"Her name," the Duke paused and he looked quite confused for a second, "Her name was Lucy Heartfilia."

_**Massive kudos to anyone who picked up the obscure Merlin reference! **_

_**Missrajaram- I know right! There are so many of those fics, but I do kinda like them! Don't worry though; this is not going to be one of those! Thank you so much for being the first reviewer!**_

_**So next chapter will be up at some point during the week, or next weekend. I don't even know tbh…**_

_**Until then though, **_

_**Much love to you all and please review! xx**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Dear god, so much Gruvia in this chapter. Meh, I love it too much! Anyways, thank you to all the people who reviewed, favourited or followed my fic! Oh and yes, I changed the name, because I realised it wasn't all about NaLu…silly me…**_

* * *

Everytime I try to fly

I fall without my wings

I feel so small

I guess I need you baby

Britney Spears-Everytime

* * *

Chapter 3

There was a moment of silence, and then the room exploded.

"It was you, you bastard!" Natsu screamed, and began to burn up everything in the study with his fire magic.

"You took her!" he screamed. The bookshelves went up.

"You took her away from me!" The armchairs began to blaze.

"Natsu!" Erza yelled. She requipped into her Flame Empress amour.

"Gray and Happy, get the Duke out of here! Juvia, put out those flames!" she yelled.

Everyone jumped into action, but Natsu noticed none of this. His vision was clouded by the fact that the Duke had taken his Lucy, the Duke would pay for making him suffer.

* * *

Juvia was desperately trying to put out the flames, but every time she managed to, a new one sprung up in the same place. She felt useless.

"Water nebula!" she yelled eventually, letting all of her feelings of frustration take over her being completely.

Natsu and Erza were washed out of the study and into the garden. The water subdued Natsu and put out all of his flames.

Juvia gasped, Natsu and Erza were unconscious outside. Had her inner evil wanted that? Did she want her friends dead? Juvia tried supressed her sobs, she hadn't meant to hurt her friends, right? Juvia looked at the destruction of the office, if only she had been a bit quicker. She ran out into the gardens to hide herself from her friends.

Rain began to pour down as Juvia's mood turned depressed.

* * *

Gray noticed this; he was the only one who knew of the pain she was feeling. He was the only one who could make her feel better.

"Excuse me!" he said to the Duke and he ran out of the room, leaving the Duke with Happy.

"What was that?" the Duke asked Happy.

"Gray's friend is upset, Gray needs to find her." Happy said quickly, the Duke nodded.

"What was with that fire boy earlier? Why did he get so agitated when I mentioned Miss Heartfilia's name?" The Duke was confused, Happy let out a sigh.

"Lucy used to be part of Fairytail, she disappeared six months ago. Natsu has been searching for her ever since then." The Duke cocked an eyebrow.

"You must be mistaken, my dear cat. Lucy never once used magic; she assured me that she didn't after what happened to her mother."

Happy smiled sadly.

"Lucy was defiantly a wizard; did you ever see her keys?"

"No, never. I didn't know that she had keys."

There was an awkward pause, and then a crash.

"What was that?" the Duke jumped.

"Erza getting angry I would guess." Happy said.

"I only hope that they don't destroy too much." The Duke muttered and Happy tired not to hide a smirk.

* * *

"Juvia? Juvia?" Gray was running around in the rain, in just his top. Not the best idea he'd ever had, but he was worried for Juvia, more worried for her than his own health.

He tilted his head as the sound of a quiet sob reached him; he turned in the direction of the noise and began to run towards it.

"Juvia? Juvia!" Gray yelled as he rounded a corner of a hedge and found Juvia sitting on the ground, her knees pressed up against her face, arms wrapped around her legs.

"Juvia?" Gray asked in a much softer tone, he knelt down on the ground beside her, and pried her arms away from around her legs.

Juvia threw herself at Gray; she buried her head in his shoulder and wrapped her arms around his neck. She felt him stiffen slightly and then relax.

They sat there like that for what felt like hours, until Juvia became aware of Gray shivering, she sat back up, horrified at what she had done.

"Gray-kun, are you alright?" she asked him worriedly, examining his face for any signs of illness.

"I'm fine." He muttered, he was still shivering.

Juvia began to internally panic, Gray did not get cold. Ever. He was an Ice wizard; they weren't affected by the cold, unless they were sick. Was Gray sick? It was because he'd been out in the rain, looking for Juvia, and the rain was caused by Juvia. It was Juvia's fault that Gray was sick. Juvia's mood was lowered even more and the rain became heavier.

"Hey Juvia, what's up? The rain has gotten heavier?" Gray asked quietly.

"It's all Juvia's fault, she always hurts her friends!" Juvia cried, Gray stood up shakily, pulling Juvia to her feet with him.

Juvia didn't miss the fact that he was having a hard time staying upright and he seemed to be swaying slightly.

"Let's go inside." He said after a pause, then he lead her back into the mansion.

* * *

The moment they got inside, he collapsed onto the floor.

"Gray-kun?" Juvia cried and she knelt down beside him.

Natsu and Erza came through a door together and quickly rushed to Gray's side too.

"What happened?" Erza asked.

"Gray came out into the rain, looking for Juvia." Juvia replied quietly, looking down, she didn't want to see Erza and Natsu's injuries that she had caused; she didn't want to feel any worse than she already did.

"We need to get him upstairs." Erza said, she turned to Natsu, "Can you lift him?"

"I am not carrying that Ice bastard, it's his own fault for going out into the rain."

Erza crackled with raw magical power.

"Natsu Dragneel, you will carry this sick boy upstairs right now, or I swear I will…" Erza didn't even get a chance to finish her sentence, Natsu had hoisted Gray up and was now carrying him bridal style, because Gray was unable to support his own weight.

"Which one is his room?" Natsu asked, Juvia pointed to a room next to hers, Natsu kicked open the door and placed Gray gently onto the bed.

"Juvia is sorry." Juvia said after a few moments of silence, she dipped her head down and her long blue bangs covered her eyes which were filling with tears again.

"What for?" Natsu asked curiously.

"Juvia hurt her friends, it's Juvia's fault that Gray-kun is sick, Juvia was upset, so she made it rain." Juvia sat down on Gray's bed and covered her eyes with her hands.

Erza sat down next to her,

"Juvia, it is not your fault. None of it is. Do not feel guilty; you did what you had to do. Natsu, come on. I think you need to apologise to the Duke for ruining his study." Erza grabbed Natsu and dragged him out of the room.

Juvia could hear him protesting all along the hall, but she was grateful to Erza for leaving her and Gray alone together.

Gray stirred in his sleep and Juvia was beside him in an instant, he moved and opened his black eyes.

"Wha…what happened?" he asked weakly as Juvia hugged him tightly.

"Juvia is so sorry, Gray-kun. It is all her fault that you are sick."

"It's not your fault Juvia," he said tiredly, and closed his eyes, "Stay with me, please?" he asked, just before he went back to sleep.

Juvia smiled sadly, she had never seen Gray so defenceless. He was even cuter than usual when he was asleep, with a slight smile on his face, when he was awake, Gray more often than not had a scowl on his face, but now he looked so relaxed that it made Juvia feel more content and at peace.

* * *

"Natsu is terribly sorry for the damage he caused earlier, he was just a little taken aback." Erza said, trying to apologise on Natsu's behalf. Natsu refused to say anything to 'Lucy's kidnapper'.

"It is fine; your cat explained it all to me," The Duke said, smiling slightly at the pink haired boy who was glowering darkly at the floor, "What I don't understand is why you assumed I had kidnapped her, she came home and to me of her own free will, I assure you that no one forced her to do anything."

Erza was shocked, Lucy went home of her own free will, what would cause her to do such a thing? Did Fairytail not mean anything to her; had she not liked it there, was she just pretending to be their friend? All of these questions and more spun around Erza's head, but she knew that whatever her motivations for leaving, they had to save Lucy, even if it was only to uphold Fairytail's reputation.

"Tomorrow we shall begin our hunt for Lucy." Erza promised the Duke, he bade them goodnight, and they walked back to their rooms together.

"I only hope Gray will be better tomorrow." Erza said to Natsu.

"We don't need that slant eyed bastard; we'll be fine by ourselves!" Natsu yelled and then he stormed into his room, slamming the door behind him with a very final click.

_**Oh and I forgot to mention, I hope my characters aren't too OOC and if they are, well I'm sorry. Next chapter will probably be on Sunday, but no promises...**_

_**Much love to you all and please review! xx**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**I'm sorry that this is a day late, but my mother confiscated my laptop after a...little argument we had over religion. never mind, on with the story! I'm actually really nervous about this chapter because I'm kinda introducing something entirely new. I said kinda! Oh and thank you all so much for all of the positive feedback, I actually screamed in the middle of the common room, scaring everyone massively! Anwyay, the next chapter should be up (I said should) on Friday! See you then!**_

* * *

When I love you,  
It's so untrue  
I can't even convince myself

Broken Strings- James Morrison

* * *

Chapter 4

Erza awoke in the early hours of the morning, judging by the dark sky, it was still before five am, but after the dream she'd just had about Jellal, she knew that there would be no more sleep for her that night, so instead she decided to get up and try to do something to take her mind off of it.  
Erza walked across her room and onto the balcony, she looked out across the dark lands and in the distance she could faintly see a forest, that would be the first place to look for Mercia.  
It looked like it would be just and Natsu going out that day to start the hunt for Lucy, Gray was probably still ill and Juvia would be insistent about staying by his side because she felt so guilty.

_If it was my fault that Jellal was ill, what would I do?_

Erza stood, transfixed for a few moments, staring blankly out onto the Duke's grounds, thinking of Jellal. She shook away those thoughts quickly, Jellal was dead.

_Good riddance too._

Erza almost gasped when she thought that, did she really think that?  
She shook her head to try and rid her head of these thoughts and then she made her way back into her room and wrenched open her bedroom door and she stepped out into the warm hallway, and as she was walking, her thoughts turned to the Duke.

Erza felt sorry for him, his fiancée had been kidnapped and now he was being accused by one of the people he had commissioned to find her, if only Natsu hadn't reacted so badly, he seemed to have a personal vendetta against the Duke. It might have something to do with the fact that he loved Lucy and the Duke was Lucy's betrothed.  
It was blindingly obvious that he loved Lucy, especially after he had searched frantically for her for six months, how despondent he'd become when everyone else seemed to lose interest and how violently he'd reacted when he thought he had found Lucy's kidnapper.

Erza's thoughts were interrupted by Juvia, who came out of Gray's room just as Erza was passing it.

"Good morning Erza-san, did you sleep well?" she asked sweetly, Erza personally thought she looked exhausted, probably from looking after Gray all night.

"I did, and you Juvia? You look dead on your feet." Juvia's face fell slightly at Erza's comment on her appearance.

"Juvia was looking after Gray-kun; he seems to have worsened overnight. Juvia is very sorry, but she does not think that Gray-kun will able to go out for a few days and Juvia would like to nurse him back to health." Juvia hung her head apologetically.

"That's fine Juvia, Natsu and I will scout out the area a bit, see if we can find Mercia's base of operations. But I promise we will rescue Lucy only when Gray is feeling better." Erza smiled as Juvia thanked her and then made her way back into Gray's room.

* * *

Juvia sighed deeply as she walked over to Gray's bed, his condition was getting worse and he would probably be ill for at least three days, possibly longer if his temperature didn't go down soon. He wouldn't be fit to fight for at least five days.

"Gray-kun, Juvia is so worried." Juvia said quietly when she reached his bed; she sat down on it and began to stroke his forehead, a weak hand grabbed her wrist, quite firmly, and brought her hand down to his face.

"I'm sorry," Gray said weakly, "It was never my intention to make you worry about me."

"Shhh, Gray-kun, just sleep. Then we will both be able to go with Erza-san and Natsu-san to find Lucy." Gray's eyes fluttered closed, but his grip on Juvia's wrist remained firm.

"Sleep with me?" he murmured, Juvia knew he was already half asleep and therefore he did not know what he was saying, but she still blushed a deep red.

Juvia gently pushed back the covers and moved into bed with Gray, his body temperature was still far too hot and yet he was shivering, Juvia noticed a brief expression of discomfort cross his features, so she put her cool and refreshing hands on his face and tried not to think of how attractive he was, until they both fell asleep in those positions.

* * *

"Erza, where are Juvia and the Ice bastard?" Natsu whined as he and Erza set off from the mansion with enough supplies to last them at least four days.

"Juvia is taking care of Gray until he gets better, and don't call him Ice bastard1" Erza yelled and she then hit Natsu around the head.

Natsu moaned and rubbed his head as they walked in silence for a few minutes.

"Can you smell anything?" Erza asked finally, trusting Natsu's nose far more than her instincts, although she would never openly admit that.

"I can smell her, it's quite faint, and so we'll have to move fast." Natsu said, and then he began in the direction that Erza had suspected, towards the forest that seemed miles away.

* * *

Erza was quite right, the forest was miles away and by nightfall they had only gotten halfway there. They set up camp in a cave that sheltered them for most of the night and Natsu kept them warm with a roaring fire.

Erza had something on her mind that she wanted to talk to Natsu about. But she was not sure on how to broach the subject. Erza was not one for having heart to heart talks with people, rather she kept all of her emotions hidden, for she had learnt a long time ago that emotions could, and would, be used against you in a fight.

So they remained in silence for the next two days as they left the grassland and moved into the forest, Natsu's nose mostly guiding them.

On their third day of travelling, they reached a point where Natsu stopped suddenly.

"What is it?" Erza asked urgently.

"The scent gets much stronger here; she's been here very recently. The bastard's guild should be around here."

They journeyed on for another five minutes, and then a stone building came into view.

It looked almost like a miniature castle, with three turrets and ivy growing up the walls, there were big oak double doors and the Mercia insignia was carved into the stone.

Natsu made to run forwards, one of his fists were already on fire, an expression of anger was firmly in place on his face, but Erza grabbed his other fist and pulled him back behind a tree.

"Don't you fool. We can't just attack now, and I promised Juvia that we would wait until Gray felt better before we attacked, together. Just wait, let's plan a strategy."

Erza pulled him back a little bit, just so the guildhall was still in sight, but so that they would not be seen by those entering and exiting the guild, she sat down behind a tree and Natsu did the same, but he had a disgruntled expression on his face.

They sat there and spoke of battle plans until dusk fell and suddenly Natsu became silent, he spun his entire body around so that he was facing the guild again.

Erza only realised why he had done this a few seconds later, and by then it was too late.

The guild's doors swung open and a figure walked out of them, their face was hidden by black material, and they wore a long cloak, similar to what Mystogan wore. They were heading straight towards were Natsu and Erza were hiding, although they had no way of knowing that that was where Erza and Natsu were hiding.

Natsu had jumped up and was running towards the person; both of his fists were on fire this time.

"How dare you take her from me?" he screamed at the person, they looked up at him and waved their hand, both of Natsu's fists went out.

The person walked straight past him as though he wasn't worth their time, Natsu was not pleased by this.

"Fight me!" he screamed and ran at the person again, but just as before his fire went out before he even got within a metre of them.

The figure audibly sighed and turned to face Natsu, Natsu ran at them again.

"Roar of the…" he screamed and then he broke off, the person had uttered a spell quietly and Natsu staggered and fell over, he was out cold.

Erza stood up and ran towards Natsu at this point, she ran to his side and shook him, but she was given no response.

"What did you do to him?" she shouted at the person, who merely stood there silently watching.

Erza requipped into her Heaven's Wheel armour,

"Dance my blades!" she yelled.

As the swords were sent flying towards the person, they waved their hand again and the blades vanished.

They uttered something and Erza felt her vision swimming before going black, her last conscious thought before she blacked out was,

_The great salamander and Titania beat that fast, who the hell is this person?_

**_Hope you liked the chapter, I was so afraid about posting it, I nearly rewrote it. Oh, if you are wondering who the person is, well you are just going to hvae to wait and suffer! *Insert evil laughter here*_**

**_As ever, much love to you all and please review! xx_**


	5. Chapter 5

_**So let's see what Lucy is doing, because I feel like we haven't heard from her in a while. Oh and because I'm on holiday now, my updating will be annoying and erratic, just deal with it.**_

* * *

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger

Stand a little taller

Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone

What doesn't kill you makes a fighter

What doesn't kill you-Kelly Clarkson

* * *

Chapter 5

Lucy was not having a good day, in fact, she couldn't even remember the last time she had had a really good day.

The room she was a captive in wasn't uncomfortable, in fact, she wished that she had this room at home; it was just the circumstances which came to have this room that made her slightly uncomfortable.

Every single night the guards would come for her, take her from her beautifully furnished room, and do things to her for hours, until the sun rose, but Lucy never screamed or begged for her life, whilst in her head she was pleading and praying for a rescue that Lucy knew in her heart, wouldn't come.

What they did to her, Lucy didn't even like to think about it.

The guild that had kidnapped her had a certain obsession with the human body. They wanted to discover every way in which it could be magically altered.  
According to the guards, hundreds of wizards before Lucy had been chosen and none had survived over three months, Lucy had only been there about a week and she could already feel her resolve slipping away from her. But she held on, for him. Because he wouldn't want to see her like this, the tortured screams and the tears, he would hate it more than anything and Lucy would not give them that satisfaction.

The most humiliating part of the entire thing was the attire they made her wear; it was what she had been kidnapped in. Her wedding dress.  
Every night they repaired it to its pristine state, their excuse was that they wanted their favourite to look perfect, just in case a visitor came calling.

Lucy knew that she when, _if_, she escaped from this alive, she would never wear another dress like this one, she would probably never be able to look at another wedding dress.

However there were a few positives to being captured like this, _I have to look on the bright side, I need to stay strong_, for one thing, the food was incredibly good and it helped Lucy to keep up her strength.  
She also had made a friend, a girl, younger than her. She too came from a wealthy family and she also had magic, although she used holder magic as well, but with pieces of jewellery instead of keys and they gave her different abilities. Her name was Helena, named after her mother who had also died. She was only young and she got upset very easily. Helena had been brought in after Lucy, and they had quickly become firm friends. Lucy felt a protective instinct to care for the girl and Helena treated Lucy like she was a princess.

Helena was like the sister Lucy would never have, she was cute and seemed as though she needed protecting. Most of all though, Helena approached the entire situation as though it was a holiday, nothing to worry about and Lucy had first realised this in the library, one afternoon.

* * *

_*Flashback*_

"Lucy-chan!" Lucy looked up from the book she was reading in the library that the guild had, Helena was running towards her, her guards struggling to keep up.

"What is it, Helena-chan?" Lucy asked, placing her book down and smiling at the little girl, who jumped into Lucy's lap, light brown hair flying everywhere.

"How are you today?" Helena asked, beaming up at Lucy. Lucy smiled half-heartedly back down at the girl.

"I'm fine, a little tired. How are you? Are you coping alright with the sessions?" Lucy asked worriedly, she genuinely cared for the girl.

"Of course I am, it's like they say, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. And I'm not dead, so I must be stronger!"

Lucy had a mental image of Helena's life-less, broken body, but she quickly shook that thought away.

"Of course it does." Lucy smiled down at the girl in her lap again; somehow Helena knew how to make her feel better and worse all at the same time.

_*End Flashback*_

* * *

One day Lucy had had the brilliant insight to try and plot with Helena to escape, but of course the guards had found out about their plans.

Later that night Lucy was hauled out of her lovely, warm bed and up into a tower instead of down into the basement where her regular sessions took place.

When she arrived, Lucy knew almost instantly what this was about; Helena was lying on the ground, brown hair spilling over her motionless body.

"Helena? Helena!" Lucy screamed, struggling hard against her chains, she knocked out one of her guards and she then crawled towards Helena, desperately trying to gauge if the small girl was still alive or not.

"We heard of your plans."  
Three dark figures towered over Lucy; she had not initially noticed them. One the left was the head 'doctor', Lucy had only met with him twice, to the right was a shorter figure, cloaked and hooded so that Lucy couldn't get a glimpse of their face. In the centre was the leader of the guild Mercia, Sceana. A tall man, with red hair and vivid green eyes, he had many scars up and down his face and he always wore a creepy smile that made him look like he would kill anyone at any given moment. At his waist were sheathed five daggers, all with magical qualities. It was he, who had spoken.

"Now to punish you." He said, he casually flicked open his pouch of knives and chose one at random.

Without warning he planted it violently in Helena's side. The small girl's back arched and she let out a keening scream.

"No!" Lucy screamed, she wrapped her arms around the little girl's body.

Sceana laughed cruelly and left with his two comrades either side.

"Helena!" Lucy sobbed over the girl's body, two green orbs fluttered open.

"Lucy-sama?" the girl asked groggily.

"I'm here, Helena." Lucy said tears were obscuring her vision; they were falling thick and fast onto her body that lay in Lucy's arms.

"Will you look at the wound, please? I don't like blood." Helena's voice had become so faint that Lucy could barely hear it, but she did as she was asked.

Looking down at Helena's side, she saw a long, deep cut, blood was pouring out of it at an alarming rate. Lucy pressed her hands to it to try and staunch the warm, wet flow of her blood, but it was no use.

"Don't cry for me, Lucy." Helena said, her voice drifting off and her eyes gazing blankly over Lucy's shoulder.

"Helena! Helena!" Lucy was screaming, shaking the little girl's broken body to try and bring back some remnants of life to her.

* * *

Lucy felt herself being lifted, and she struggled hard against her captors, trying desperately to reach Helena's body.  
But the person carrying her was too strong, and before long she found herself back in her room, alone. Hands and clothes blood soaked.

Yet Lucy did not want to wash off Helena's blood, because if she did, she would be letting go of the last thing she would ever have of Helena.

So Lucy sat and stared blankly at the wall, and later that night, after the sessions to 'improve' her, the dreams began.

* * *

_**Sorry that it's a little shorter than other chapters, but I needed a stimulus, because believe it or not, this will probably be quite important, if my storyline is going where I think it is. Also I'm considering writing a Fairytail high school AU when I'm done with this, any thoughts?**_

_**Much love and please review! xx**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**Sorry this chapter is a little late; I massively lacked motivation to write this because I reckon this was my least favourite chapter in this story. I hate writing full on fighting scenes, in any story. Oh if I haven't already said, this story is going to be 10 chapters long & I'm planning to write four of them, I already have a rough idea what's going to happen, but be warned that there will be marriages & children between guild members, and possibly a few cruel & unnecessary deaths, but not in this fic!**_

* * *

This is falling in love in the cruellest way,

This is falling for you and you are worlds away.

Come back-Taylor Swift

* * *

Chapter 6

Juvia was pacing. As she had been for the past three days, and frankly Gray was sick of it. But only one thought plagued their minds, it had been six days since they'd seen Natsu and Erza, the trip should have taken no longer than three days, so either they were lost or…Gray didn't even want to think about the or.

"Juvia, stop." Gray reached out a hand and grabbed Juvia's wrist, she stopped her frantic pacing and turned to him with a slightly wild look in her eyes.

"Juvia can't stop pacing. Juvia will not stop pacing until Erza-san and Natsu-san are back. This is all Juvia's fault."

With that, Juvia collapsed onto the sofa that Gray was sitting on and she began to tear up, Gray sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Juvia had been blaming herself for four days; he no longer knew what to do with her.

"It is not your fault, Juvia." Gray said angrily and he moved slightly closer to her, wrapping one arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer to his body.

Juvia pressed her face into his shoulder, and they sat like that until the Duke found them.

"Have you any idea of when your friends might be getting back and if they have my fiancée with them?"

Gray growled deep in his throat as he heard Juvia whimper and bury herself deeper into his shoulder.

"They will get back when they do."

At that very moment they heard a massive crash and a familiar voice calling out,

"We're back!" It was Natsu shouting.

All three of them jumped and ran down the stairs.

"Are you alright?" Juvia cried anxiously.

"Where is Lucy?" the Duke yelled, Gray noticed Natsu stiffen slightly.

_Could he make it any more obvious?_

"Unfortunately we did not find Lucy, but we found the place where she is being kept." Erza said, and as Gray raked his eyes over both of his comrades, he noticed something.

They had scratches that were not there previously.

"Who did you fight?" Gray asked suddenly, everyone's eyes turned to him and then Juvia looked accusingly at him.

"Gray…!" she began, but Erza cut her off.

"We are not sure, but whoever they were, they were very powerful, it took them mere moments to knock us out." Erza looked down at the floor in embarrassment.

"Is that why you are so late back?" he asked them, and they nodded.

Everyone stood in the hall awkwardly for a few moments before Erza turned to the Duke.

"Never fear, tomorrow all four of us shall set off and we will return with Lucy before the week is out."

* * *

The next day it was raining, and it wasn't because of Juvia. Juvia was actually upbeat. She was with her boyfriend, they were going to find Lucy, and she had _friends _for the first time in her life.

The group set out in the direction that Erza and Natsu had set out on a week ago, they were all tense. After Natsu and Erza had fully explained their fight to Gray and Juvia, they were all slightly worried about what they would do if they met that person again.

* * *

"Hey, Gray, Juvia." Juvia was plucked from her thoughts by Erza's voice, she looked round to Erza.

"I never asked, how did you guys get together? What happened?" At her words, Juvia blushed pink and Gray looked down at the floor, very embarrassed.

"It's a long story." Gray said, still not meeting anyone's eyes.

"We have time." Erza said, she was grinning slightly at her black haired friend's obvious discomfort.

"Come on Ice bastard! Tell us!" Natsu yelled, Gray looked up, angry.

"You wanna go, flame brain?" he said, an ice sword appeared in one hand.

"Just try me!" Natsu yelled, both of his fists firing up.

They ran at each other, both trying to land blows with their magic, but after a while they gave up using magic and merely started to punch each other.

Then Erza stepped in.

"Boys, stop."

Then Gray accidently punched her in the face and Erza exploded.

"That. Is. Enough!" she yelled, Erza grabbed them both by the scruffs of their neck and banged their heads together.

"Learn to get along." She snapped and began walking in the opposite direction.

Juvia giggled and followed Erza, she knew wha Gray had been trying to do though, change the subject from how they had gotten together, she knew why it would be embarrassing for him, but Gray was so cute when he was embarrassed.

* * *

Nothing interesting happened for the rest of the journey, Natsu and Gray ignored each other and Juvia fantasied about her's and Gray's children.

They arrived at Mercia's guildhall two days after they set out, and planned to bust in. However, no one had any idea what would happen if they met the cloaked figure from before.

* * *

Of course, Natsu got so angry, that he didn't listen to their plan and merely marched straight into the guildhall.

"Give me back my Lucy!" he screamed.

All of the members of Mercia looked up in shock, it was obvious that no one had ever walked into their guild like that, and no one had ever been _on fire._

"Natsu!" The three remaining members yelled, and then they looked at each other and ran inside the guildhall to help out Natsu.

It turned out that Natsu actually needed little help in taking down most of the guild members.

"Roar of the fire dragon!" Natsu screamed, taking down five people in one breath.

It seemed that their attack had been so unexpected that the guild members didn't even try to fight back. In fact, after Gray punched one member they were out cold for the rest of the night.

"Tell me where Lucy is!" Natsu screamed, he was towering over a woman who looked petrified with pale blue hair.

"In…in the tower," she stammered, "If only the hunter was here, he'd take care of you in an instant, or the master." The last part she murmed more to herself before collapsing.

Juvia made a mental note that 'The Hunter' was the most powerful member of Mercia and probably was the one who defeated Erza and Natsu.

* * *

"Come on Juvia!" Gray yelled, he offered her a hand and she took it, they ran in the direction that Natsu and Erza had taken off in.

They ran up a dizzying flight of spiral stairs, until they reached the top, at the top of the stairs, there was a door, or what had once been a door, now it was burnt to a crisp.

Upon entering the room, Juvia saw beautiful, ornate furniture, but that was not what she was focusing on.

Because everyone's attention was drawn to the pool of blood, in the middle of which Lucy was lying.

"Lucy! Luce!" Natsu screamed. He ran over to her and began to shake her frantically.

Lucy's eyes fluttered open.

And then they closed again. She smiled a faint, half smile. The world was going in and out of focus and she could vaguely hear people talking around her.

"Lucy! Don't die on me!" Natsu screamed. Natsu? What was he doing here? Had he come to rescue her, or was this another of her dreams?

"Guys, we need to leave. Now." Gray said, the remaining guild members were waking up, and one had gone off to contact the master.

* * *

The next time Lucy woke up, she was on a sofa at the Duke's mansion, and Natsu was sitting on a chair next to the sofa.

"Natsu?" Lucy asked faintly.

Natsu didn't speak, he just hugged her.

"I thought I'd lost you." He murmured into her ear.

Lucy gulped, tears flowing to her eyes. She knew what she had to do, because Natsu would want her to go back to Fairytail, but if she did that her father would send people to find her.

"Natsu? I…I…" Lucy said, and she slipped onto the floor, Natsu was beside her in an instant.

"What's up Lucy? Is something wrong?" his eyes were over flowing with worry, and yet he looked relieved to see her again.

"I'm so sorry." Lucy said, before putting her final plan into motion.

* * *

_**Ohhhh, what do you Lucy's plan will be? Eh? Bet no one will guess it! Well leave your thoughts and opinions in the review section!**_

_**Oh and I hope you enjoyed it, did it seem rushed to you? It seemed rushed to me. Ah well, least favourite chapter is done! Oh and next chapter will be uploaded tomorrow, cause I've actually already written the other chapters!**_

_**Much love and PLEASE review! xx**_


	7. Chapter 7

_**It's midnight in England now, so I can post this chapter ..yay!I actually got my ideas for the next two chapters from Vampire Knight, I hope no one minds too much about that, and I hope it isn't too similar to Vampire Knight. Actually, is anyone reading this a Vampire Knight fan? I am massively! Oooh, who does everyone ship Yukki with? Are you team Zero or team Kaname? Anyway, enough of my mad ramblings, on with the story!**_

* * *

Now that I know what I'm without

You can't just leave me

Breathe into me and make me real

Bring me to life

Bring me to life-Evanescence

* * *

Chapter 7

"Natsu?" Natsu looked up into Lucy's chocolate brown eyes.

"Yes, Luce?" It was only then that he noticed that they were shining with tears.

"I'm so, so sorry about this, but it's the only way."

Natsu opened his mouth to ask her what she was taking about, but he stopped. Lucy placed her hands on both sides of his face and shut her eyes, and then Natsu knew nothing.

* * *

Juvia knew something was wrong.

"Gray, Erza, we need to see what Natsu and Lucy are doing, right now." She said urgently.

Erza opened her mouth to protest, but quickly shut it after seeing the expression on Juvia's face.

"Very well."

All three of them ran towards the drawing room, and Gray kicked down the door, only to find Natsu's limp body in Lucy's arm, and she was crying over him.

"What did you do?" Gray yelled at Lucy, suspecting that she had killed him.

"I…I…" Lucy broke off; she was crying so hard that she couldn't finish her sentence, "I took his memories of me."

There was a stunned silence, and then they all exploded.

"Why would you do that?" Erza yelled.

"You had no right to!" Gray shouted.

Juvia remained silent though, she thought that she knew why Lucy had done it, although it was not an advisable idea, she knew why.

"Stop." Juvia shouted just as Gray began to cast a spell and Erza pulled out her sword.

The room went silent and everyone looked at Juvia, Lucy didn't even look as though she cared if she was slaughtered on the spot, but Juvia could not allow that to happen, even if it was her ex-love rival.

"Juvia understands." Juvia said kindly, and she crossed the room and knelt beside Lucy, picking up Natsu's body and placing him onto the sofa, and then helping Lucy to her feet.

"What do you understand?" Gray asked, he and Erza looked so confused that Juvia almost laughed.

"Juvia understands why Lucy took Natsu's memories. It was to protect him, to make sure that he would leave, wasn't it?" Juvia turned to Lucy, who nodded.

"I'm sorry, but I need you to leave, and never come back, never mention me ever again, just to forget that I existed in your life. I took Natsu's memories because I knew that he would never agree to my plan. I'm so, so sorry." She looked down at the floor again and tears began to fall onto the floor.

Gray and Erza were silent, they were stunned at the lengths Lucy would go to, to protect her friends.

"We still need an excuse as to why we are here for when Natsu wakes up." Erza said after a few minutes, and Lucy looked up, startled.

"Can't you just leave?" she asked pleadingly.

"No, we should stay and protect you until your wedding at the very least." Erza said, using a tone that sounded so final that Lucy dared not argue with her.

"Very well, I'll explain everything to the Duke." And with that, Lucy stood and walked out of the room.

* * *

Natsu's eyes slowly fluttered open, he was lying on a sofa, his head was propped up by a few comfortable pillows and his body felt like it had just been run over by a dragon.

Natsu groaned, and immediately footsteps were heard.

"Natsu, are you awake?" a voice spoke to him, it was a familiar voice and it took Natsu only a few seconds to place it. It was Erza who was speaking to him.

Natsu sat up quickly, what had happened? But his head swam so much that he had to lie back down again quickly.

"What happened?" he asked Erza. If Natsu had been paying closer attention, he would have noticed the shadow pass across her face, but it was gone as quickly as it had come on.

"You don't remember?" she asked him, in a more gentle voice than usual, this surprised Natsu.

"No," Natsu said, he was confused now, what had happened?

"What's the last thing you remember?" Erza asked. Natsu scratched his head, thinking hard.

"We were going on a mission, to do something…that's all I can remember."

Erza sighed and sat down on the sofa beside him.

"We have come here to…protect a bride from being kidnapped. She is…very affluent. On the way here, your…motion sickness got so bad that you…passed out. Gray and Juvia are in the other room waiting for us… & so are our clients."

Natsu did notice how many times Erza paused during her explanation and how afterwards she refused to meet his eyes. Something was not quite right with her explanation, it sounded all wrong in his head, but for the time being he had no better conclusions, so he may as well go along with the story, for now.

"Let's go meet these people then!" Natsu said, he swung his legs off of the sofa and stood up. Erza stood beside him and she took him through several doors and into a sitting room.

Gray and Juvia were sitting very close together on a love seat, they were facing a man, he was young and good looking, but he had premature age lines on his face. Natsu wondered what could have caused these to appear so early in the man's life.

There was a slight breeze and on the wind Natsu smelt something beautiful and heart achingly familiar, but he couldn't quite place it. Natsu's attention turned to the source of the draught.

A set of double doors were open, leading out onto a balcony, and on the balcony stood a young woman with blonde hair.

But he had no idea who the woman was or why his heart ached when he saw her, he had no memories of ever meeting her, and that hurt his heart even more.

* * *

_**Sorry for the slightly shorter chapter than usual, only just over 1,000 words. Oh, no one understands why Lucy people's memories now, right? Mwhahahahahaha I'm an evil genius! *cough* Never mind, I'll probably explain soon, I say probably...**_

_**Much love & please review for Natsu's lost memories of Lucy! xx**_


	8. Chapter 8

**_This is bad, I just slept from four pm til 11 am. This is why I should definitely not do 40 hours awake... This might be my favorite chapter to write, because I thought it really showed how much Natsu cared for Lucy. Or maybe I just enjoy character torture? Meh, who knows? But I bet most of you are itching to get on with the chapter, so I'll keep this A/N brief...just enjoy it really...k, I'm done._**

* * *

You've been hiding, never letting it show

Always trying, to keep it under control

You got it down and you're well on your way to the top

But there is something you forgot

Something you forgot-Lil Wayne

* * *

Chapter 8

"Ah, I see you've awoken," The man said, he turned his head to call to the woman, "Lucy, come in here, the rest of the protection party has joined us."

The young woman turned, and walked into the room. Natsu was shocked to see that she had tears in her eyes. As she walked her light blue dress fanned out behind her and short white gloves were covering her hands, which were placed in front of her. She was looking down at the floor and she refused to meet anyone's eyes.

Natsu was stunned, he knew her, didn't he? Why couldn't he remember who she was, why was her face so hard to place in his mind, like her scent?

"How are you?" she asked him softly, she looked up into his face and her warm brown eyes sprung out from the rest of her face.

"I'm…fine." Natsu said, he was unsure of himself, he knew that he would never forget someone as beautiful as her, so clearly he must have never known her, but he did know her. Natsu's mind was racing, trying to comprehend what was happening to him.

"Very well, let us get down to business." The duke said, the woman moved and sat beside him, she placed a hand on his arm and looked back down at the floor.

"As you know, Miss Heartfilia has been the source of some rather unwanted attention, so I am entrusting her safety to you. This will only be until our wedding in a weeks' time, and then you may be on your way."

Natsu stood immediately, "I will protect her, don't worry, nothing will happen to your fiancée."

Unless his ears were deceiving him, he heard the woman give a small sob, and she buried her face in her hands and ran out onto the balcony, shutting the doors behind her.

The duke sighed; he stood and began to walk out of the room.

"I would like to thank you for doing this, my fiancée means a great deal to me."

He followed her out on the balcony, leaving the other three in the room, alone.

"Oi, flame brain. You remember nothing?" Gray asked, he stood with an angry expression on his face and began to walk slowly towards Natsu.

"I don't, why does that get you so angry?" Natsu asked, one of his fists began to burn, anticipation building inside of him.

"Gray, stop," Juvia said pleadingly, she put a hand on his shoulder, "It's not his fault that he doesn't remember, leave it."

Gray sighed and ran a hand through his black hair, then he caught Natsu's eye and snarled before stalking past him, out of the room. Moments later, Juvia ran after him and the door slammed shut.

"What's his problem?" Natsu asked Erza.

"No clue, are you sure that you want to do this, Natsu?" she asked, looking him dead in the eyes.

Erza's expression was unreadable, but her eyes danced with suspicion, confusion, fear and something that looked like pain. But the moment she noticed him looking deeply into her eyes, she turned her head quickly, cheeks burning.

"I'm sure." Natsu said, and then he too, turned and walked out of the room.

* * *

That night Natsu couldn't sleep, his mind was plagued with thoughts and memories that were strangely distorted, almost like someone or something had been ripped from his mind.

Luckily a distraction came for him in the form of light footsteps walking past his bedroom door; Natsu got up and walked over to the door, opening it. Looking down the corridor her could see the woman walking through the corridor and down the grand staircase.

Natsu decided in an instant to follow her, he was supposed to be protecting her, so he might as well start now.

* * *

He followed her quietly, keeping at least ten paces behind her, but she never turned. She walked out onto a terrace that overlooked the garden, Natsu could hear a fountain playing off into the distance, and for a little while he concentrated on that, hiding himself in the shadows of the door, just inside, until something else caught his attention.

The woman was sobbing, her hands were pressed up to her face to try and mask the noise, but she wasn't doing a very good job. Another breeze rustled her dress, _the same one she'd been wearing earlier, _Natsu noted, and he caught a whiff of her smell again. The same familiar scent he'd smelt earlier, only now it was tinged with pain.

Natsu walked out, into the moonlight and the sound of her footsteps stopped her sobs as she turned to face him.

"Are you alright?" Natsu asked uncertainly, stepping closer towards her.

She didn't move, nor did she make a sound. So Natsu took another step closer to her. Only then did he realise how hard her gloved hands were shaking.

"It's alright; I'm not going to hurt you. I'm here to protect you." Natsu said slowly, as though he was speaking to a child or a frightened animal.

She pressed back into the stone wall as he came even closer; they were so close that Natsu could have counted her eyelashes.

He didn't know what made him do it, he would never know. But he took out a hand and cupped her cheek. She squeaked slightly, but made no move to remove his hand, and then Natsu wiped away her tears.

They stayed like that for several minutes, until the clock chimed midnight, then, as if the spell had been broken, she moved away from him and ran back into the house, leaving Natsu staring out into the gardens and wishing, against his better judgement, that they could have stayed like that forever.

* * *

The next week passed awkwardly for Natsu, he didn't really speak to the woman he was supposed to protect, but she was so wrapped up in her wedding plans that she probably didn't notice.

However Natsu kept having dreams, ones that never made sense and always made him wake up, wishing that someone was there. Although who he wanted, he didn't even know himself.

* * *

The day of the wedding dawned, the sun was shining and everything seemed perfect, until Natsu walked in on the Duke, he seemed to be talking to himself softly, but Natsu could hear what he was saying. He didn't notice him, but he was there long enough to hear the Duke croon, "Lucy Heartfilia, I love you."

_Lucy Heartfilia._

Why was that name familiar? Why did it make him unconsciously smile whenever he thought it?

_Lucy Heartfilia._

Natsu assumed that was the woman's name. But why did he associate so much happiness with that name?

He had to get away.

Natsu ran up to his room, locked the door and ran out to his balcony. Then he placed his head on the stone and began to think.

_Lucy Heartfilia._

An image came into his head, keys. Beautiful golden keys. Why had that thought popped up?

_Lucy Heartfilia._

An apartment that he always broke into.

A cow with an axe.

A boat being exploded.

A pink, Fairytail mark on her right hand.

A blonde woman falling from a tower, screaming his name as she fell.

_His Lucy Heartfilia._

* * *

Lucy walked up the aisle alone; at the end of the aisle she could see her future husband and her friend's safety.

She wished that there had been another way, but as long as Natsu knew who she was, she would never be able to marry the Duke in peace. She'd explained this to them all after she had taken all of Natsu's memories of her.

It was very unlikely he would regain them, unless…

Lucy didn't want to think about that. If he did regain his memories of her, it would mean that _he loved her._

Lucy would not think about that. She would not let herself get hopeful that he would remember her, he would not remember her.

Before she knew it, Lucy was standing at the end of the aisle, the Duke's hands in her own, she was shaking slightly, but the Duke didn't seem to notice. She kept remembering that night where Natsu had followed her outside, if she closed her eyes, she could almost feel his warm hands cupping her face, wiping away her tears.

"…speak now or forever hold your peace." Lucy heard the bishop say, bringing her out of the trance. There was a moment of silence, and just as the bishop opened his mouth to go on, the door to the pavilion burst open.

Natsu stood there, his entire body was on fire. He walked forwards slowly, Lucy knew his walk all too well, and it was his battle stance.

"I remember you." He hissed at Lucy.

No one spoke, Lucy didn't know what to say, her heart was overflowing with happiness and grief.

"I remember you, Lucy Heartfilia." And then he kissed her.

_**Even more dramatic cliff hangers! How will everyone, and when I say everyone, I mean the Duke, react? What will happen next? I want to know what YOU think, so please leave a review! Two chapters left people!**_

_**Much love & please review because that was NaLu's first kiss! xx**_


	9. Chapter 9

_**Woah, longest chapter of this story, somewhere around 2,000 words I think! Yay!So this is actually quite a dark chapter, with a light smattering of Gruvia at the end and a bit of NaLu at the beginning…so let us commence with the second to last chapter of the story! Last chapter will be up tomorrow night, I'm actually a little nervous about ending the story. **_

* * *

That's when you, remember me

I'm the one that had you, baby

I'm the one who loved you, baby

Remember me

Remember me-Daley

* * *

Chapter 9

There was dead silence, as Lucy unconsciously kissed Natsu back.

In front of her guild mates.

In front of her father.

In front of her fiancé.

* * *

Lucy only came back to her senses when she heard a massive smash, and Natsu's warm body was wrenched away from her.

She blinked, confused as to where Natsu had gone. Then she saw him sprawled on the ground, a bruise already forming on his head and the Duke standing over him, rage in his eyes, as well as tears.

"You kissed my fiancée!" He yelled, he punched Natsu again.

Natsu seemed to dazed to fight back properly, because Lucy knew that if he had fought back, the Duke would be knocked out by now.

However Lucy had underestimated the Duke's ability to fight when he was angry.

He was punching and pummelling every inch of Natsu's body, with the intent of giving him brain damage or knocking him out at the very least.

Lucy could not stand by and let the Duke hurt Natsu.

"Stop!" she cried, but the Duke did not stop, and no one from the audience bothered to stop him. Lucy knew that it would be up to her to stop the Duke murdering Natsu.

She ran forwards just as the Duke was about to land the final blow on Natsu, raising her arms in front of him, protecting Natsu with her body.

"Stop!" she cried again.

This time, with Lucy actually in the way, the Duke seemed to take notice and he stopped, but he still looked angry and ready to hit anyone.

"Lucy, stand aside." He bared his teeth at her, but Lucy was adamant, he would not hurt Natsu.

"No, don't hurt him." she said, glaring at the Duke.

"Stand aside, you silly girl." He said, and just as he was about to knock her out of the way, a bright light filled with room.

* * *

After a few moments it diminished and a black cloaked figure was standing there, facing the Duke.

It began to slowly walk towards the Duke.

"Everyone, run!" Erza screamed, sudden panic in her voice.

Erza, Gray and Juvia began trying to herd everyone out of the pavilion.

The cloaked figure paid them no interest, it's destination was the end of the aisle were Lucy stood shielding Natsu from the Duke, who seemed to have momentarily forgotten his rage for confusion.

"Who are you?" he shouted at the figure.

The figure said nothing and continued walking towards the group of three.

By now all of the guests had been taken away from the pavilion, only the five wizards, the Duke and the cloaked figure remained.

The figure stopped walking when it reached the end of the aisle, it then turned to Lucy.

"Lucy Heartfilia," It began in a monotonous voice, "You have run from Mercia, you have taken valuable technology from us and you have led to the destruction of our guild. For this there must be punishment."

Lucy looked up at the figure in horror.

"Punishment, what?" she asked, the figure turned away from her.

"Wait!" Lucy cried, and she grabbed the figure's wrist, with part of her exposed skin from where her glove had ripped.

It was only a second of contact, but Lucy felt the figure's feelings and memories wash into her like a great tidal wave.

Lucy let go of the figure's wrist in shock, and the cloaked person walked towards the Duke.

"You are someone Miss Heartfilia cares for greatly. Thus you shall be her punishment."

The figure touched the Duke's chest, and blood began to spurt from it, the figure disappeared just as the Duke collapsed onto the ground.

"No," Lucy said, her voice faint at first.

"No!" she screamed.

Lucy ran over to him, and cradled his head in her lap.

"Lucy…" he whimpered.

"You're fine; you're going to be fine." Lucy said, she wiped away the tears from his face, feeling her second wedding dress become stained with another dying person's blood.

"I'm not though." He said quietly, and he began to cough, blood bubbled out of his mouth and Lucy found her vision temporarily impaired with tears.

"Lucy, I did love you," he said.

"No, don't speak, save your strength." Lucy said, trying to wipe away the blood pooling around his mouth.

"No, I need to say this," he muttered, his eyes closed, but quickly reopened again, "Lucy, I loved you. You were the first one I loved, and the first to love me back. You did love me, didn't you?" he asked, sounding very much like a small child.

"I do love you, not did love you, James." Lucy moaned.

"Then that's all I need." The Duke smiled at her, and then he closed his eyes.

"James?" Lucy cried, shaking his body.

"James!" she screamed, pulling his body up to hers, and kissing his blood stained lips.

Gray and Juvia stood at the entrance, horror struck by what they were witnessing, but Erza had moved to go and fetch a dazed Natsu who had no idea what was going on, and it was probably better that way.

* * *

Lucy lay there, crying over her dead fiancée's body for what felt like hours, until she had no more tears left to cry.  
Then Lucy stood and she turned to see that she was alone, as she had been for some time. Everyone else had melted away to give her some privacy, to say her goodbye to the Duke.

* * *

Later that day, her father came to visit her in her room.

"I guess that you want me to come home." Lucy said bitterly.

"Lucy, this has been a great shock for us all." Her father began and Lucy began to predict what he would say next, but when he did speak, it shocked her.

"You should go where you are happy. If that means Fairytail, then that is where you should go." He said, he sounded sad as he said it, but Lucy was so shocked that she didn't pick up on this until she examined their conversation later.

"Father, can I ask you something about Mother?" Lucy began hesitantly, knowing that her father did not like to talk about her mother.

"What is it?" he asked, his voice coming out a little sharper than usual.

"Could mother…did she…could she see the future?" Lucy asked nervously, her father looked at her curiously.

"Yes, she could. Why do you ask?" he asked Lucy.

But Lucy couldn't tell him about the dreams she'd been having, they no longer felt like normal dreams, but snippets of what could come to pass.

"No reason, I was merely curious." Lucy said, smiling faintly at her father.

* * *

Lucy did not expect her friends to say until she felt ready to leave, but they did. They stayed with her for the weeks that followed until she felt ready to go back home to Fairytail.

Lucy was immensely grateful to them for remaining behind to make sure that was ok, but then again, they were her friends, they would be with her throughout everything.

When she got onto the train with the four of them, she almost felt relieved to be leaving the Duke's mansion behind. She was going back to Fairytail, she was going home.

* * *

"Juvia, can I…can I talk to you about something?" Juvia looked at Gray in confusion; he'd been acting strangely ever since the Duke had died. He'd been ignoring everyone and sometimes Juvia heard him muttering to himself. Juvia was actually quite worried for him.

Now that they were back at the guild people were beginning to question his strange behaviour, and of course they all went to Juvia for answers, bu Juvia had none.

"Of course Gray, you can talk to Juvia about anything." She said smiling sweetly at him, but he did not smile back.

Instead Gray took Juvia's hand and lead her out of the guildhall, through the streets of Magnolia, out of Magnolia and up onto the hill overlooking the city where they had first kissed.

"What is it Gray? Juvia is worried." Juvia asked, trying to look into Gray's eyes, but he was avoiding them.

"Juvia, I need to say something, please don't interrupt me as I say it, because this is going to be hard for me." Gray said, and Juvia's eyes began to fill with tears, Gray was breaking up with her wasn't he?

She had always known that their time together would be brief, but Juvia was so happy with Gray that she didn't want it to end, and she had thought that he didn't either.

"I find it hard to express my feelings, especially when I'm nervous, but here goes," Gray took a deep breath, but Juvia cute him off before he could begin.

"It's fine, Juvia understands. Juvia will say goodbye to Gray now." Juvia said, turning away from Gray, walking back towards the city, tears streaming down her face.

But then she felt Gray grab her hand and pull her back to him, she looked up into his black eyes, confusion written all over her face.

"What are you talking about?" Gray asked.

"What are you talking about? Clearly you are trying to break up with Juvia!" Juvia cried and wrenched her hand from his grasp, turning away from him again.

Then she heard him laughing and felt his cool arms wrap around her waist, and she turned to see him smiling at her.

"You idiot, I was trying to propose to you, if you'd just let me finish!"

Juvia felt like her heart was about to explode.

"Gray was trying to…propose?"

"Yeah you idiot, that's why I said don't interrupt me, you never listen."

In an instant his smile died though and he didn't look as ecstatic as Juvia felt, which concerned her.

"What is wrong?" she asked him.

"It's all ruined now, I was trying to propose properly, I even had a speech prepared, and now…" he looked so upset that Juvia had to kiss him.

"Silly Gray, Juvia doesn't care about speeches, she's happy to know that Gray tried." Her smile was bright enough for both of them.

"Are you sure?" Gray asked, looking confused.

"Of course Juvia is sure." If it was possibly her smile got even bigger.

And she thought she was having a full scale heart attack when Gray got down to one knee and produced a black velvet box.

"Juvia Lockser, will you marry me?"

"You even have to ask…?" Juvia cried, and then she threw her arms around Gray, knocking him to the ground.

Juvia was so happy she thought she might explode.

* * *

_**Oh the person who killed the Duke was also the person who defeated Natsu and Erza earlier on...just in case anyone was confused there. Ah, Gruvia. I love it to pieces! I know it's a little irrelevant to this storyline, but it's kinda the focus point for the next one!**_

_**Next chapter probably won't be as long, and because it's the final chapter of this story, think of it more as an epilogue than an actual chapter, just tying up loose ends ect…**_

_**Much love & please review because coming soon will be a Gruvia wedding! xx**_


	10. Chapter 10

_**You know what I just realised? I've completely forgotten him for this entire story! I'm so stupid! Argh! Ok, just pretend that he was on a mission or something or ill. I don't know; make up your own little story as to where he is! But anyway, on with the final chapter of the story!**_

_**It's been so much fun to write this story, and the sequel 'Dark' will be even more fun (hopefully). We might see some Happy and maybe even find out why Lucy can see the future now or why she can see people's memories when she touches them! It will be about the Gruvia wedding, don't worry though, there will be NaLu, GaLe and probably Jerza! And there will be action and a side of fluff, but no smut, cause I can't write smut. I can't even read it without cringing.**_

_**Thank you so much to CupcakeGirl633, ShadowHunter11, Syrun17,AnimeRocks793, ias and missrajaram for reviewing, to 3sakurachii, Azuky-Bunny, Camolovinggirl, CatsCradle22, Celestial-Mage231, CherryChan09, Chocolatesaregood, CupcakeGirl633, Emma D. Silver, Erza-Lucy, Kakomine, KanaeHitomi, Miss choco-chips, Rose JewelStar, Sanders-sama, ShadowHunter11, Syryn17, TivaNaluKick4evs, Zorobinlover, ahaurats-FT, giabertrand22, mangopudding, missrajaram, sarahdragneel & wanderlust7 for following my story & to AnimeRocks793, Azuky-Bunny, CatsCradle22, CherryChan09, Kakomine, Sasusakulslovelly, StarPurpleandBlue & ahaurats-FT for favoriting my story!**_

* * *

I know I can't take one more step towards you

Cause all that's waiting is regret

And don't you know I'm not your ghost anymore

You lost the love I loved the most

Jar of Hearts-Christina Perri

* * *

Epilogue

The guild hall doors banged open and in walked Gray and Juvia holding and hands, both were smiling brightly.

"We're engaged!" Juvia yelled to the stunned hall, and then everyone crowded around the couple, congratulating them and asking to see the ring.

Lucy however, remained sitting at her table, staring blankly into her iced tea.  
Natsu noticed this and cautiously approached her.

"Hey Luce." He said, sitting down next to her, when she didn't say anything to him in reply, he poked her arm gently. Only then did she look at him, tears were swimming in her eyes.

"Hi Natsu." She said, her voice sounded choked.

Natsu glanced around, looking for a topic of conversation that wouldn't make him angry, _such as the fact that Lucy had stolen his memories of her, _or ones that would make Lucy cry, _the fact that her fiancée was dead, _and his eyes landed on a letter, that lay opened in front of Lucy.

"What's that?" he asked her curiously.

"A letter from James' lawyer." She replied dully.

"What do they want?" he asked, trying not to pry into her business, despite the fact that he was incredibly curious.

"They want…" Lucy began, but she choked up and they sat in silence for several minutes before Lucy could continue.

"They want to meet with me and discuss James' will."

"Oh" Was all Natsu could say, he honestly couldn't think of anything to say in response to that.

"Natsu," He turned his head to look directly into Lucy's eyes that were bright with tears.

"Natsu, would you possibly, I mean could you please, come with me?" she asked him quietly. One of her hands was shaking and the other was gripping the table hard.

Natsu understood that she didn't want to go alone; she didn't want to be alone at a time like this.

"Of course I will Luce, anything for you." He said, smiling brightly at her.

Lucy looked up at him in surprise, and then she lowered her head and smiled slightly.

* * *

The next day Lucy and Natsu left for the Heartfilia's residence, it would take a whole day by train and Natsu was not looking forward to it.

His motion sickness began as soon as the train started moving and he lurched forward in his seat.

"Come on Natsu, we have a day of this, maybe you should go to sleep." Lucy said sadly, looking at her friend who was sitting next to her.

Natsu shook his head, not trusting himself to speak, just in case.

Lucy sighed, and then she pulled his head down on her lap.

"Here, just lie like this and it'll be over before you know it." Then she began to stroke his hair and mutter soothing words into this ear, and before Natsu knew it he was asleep.

* * *

Natsu only awoke when they arrived that evening at the mansion, they had planned to do business that night with the lawyers, but Lucy looked so dejected that Natsu told them that they were too tired and they could talk the next day.

"Miss Heartfilia, I'm sure that you are aware of Duke Sawarr of the Junelle wrote a will shortly before his…demise." The lawyer began, Natsu had no idea what the man was saying, he was still half asleep, and it was eight in the morning.

"I am aware of that fact, although I was not made aware that he had left me anything." Lucy said sadly.

"You do not know what the Duke left you?" the lawyer sounded confused.

"No, I don't." Lucy said.

"Well, Miss Heartfilia, to put it frankly, the Duke left you everything he owned."

Lucy gasped involuntarily and suddenly Natsu was actually paying attention.

"He left you his mansion, his entire company, all of his assets, personal money, gold bars and all of his personal possessions."

"How…how much are we talking?" Luc asked shakily.

"If we sold his mansion, and all of his belongings, then maybe 30,000,000, 000, 000 jewel, but probably more."

"Woah Lucy, you'll never have to worry about rent again!" Natsu yelled, and he smiled at her, but he was shocked to see her looking down, fists clenched in her lap and tears trickling out of her eyes.

She stood up and ran out of the room, her father and the lawyer looked after her, confusion written in their faces, but Natsu followed her out.

"Lucy, hey Lucy!"

Eventually Natsu found her in the back garden, crying beside a smaller fountain.

"Don't cry Luce." Natsu said, and he hugged her.

Natsu's next words just slipped right out of his mouth, years later he was thankful, but he never understood why he said them, he supposed it was because he hated to see her cry more than anything.

"Luce, go to Gray and Juvia's wedding with me, as my date."

* * *

_**The first chapter of Dark will be posted sometime later this month, see you then!**_

_**Much love and please review because this is the last chapter of Home! xx**_


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